


Foray into Fatherhood

by ShyWhovian



Series: Dad Five AU [1]
Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: AU, Fivey wonders where he went wrong, Gen, Team as Family, dad!Five, who are these kids and how did they get here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 07:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7791484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyWhovian/pseuds/ShyWhovian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The fifth Doctor wonders how his life came to this; one minute he was roaming the stars, the next, he was stuck on Earth with a bunch of children. Clearly this is all because of Jo!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Foray into Fatherhood

How had his life come to this? He wondered as he shifted a dark haired toddler onto his hip and stopped a four year old brunette from running out onto the road, all while trying to stop a ginger haired pre-teen from fighting with a loud mouthed eleven year old and keeping an eye on a quiet eight year old. Jo, he thought, the blame lay entirely on Jo!

Eight years ago, relatively speaking, he'd received a call from the Brigadier informing him that Jo needed him for something. Of course he'd responded as soon as he could, it was Jo after all and he'd never been able to resist her. So he'd landed and she'd immediately rushed to him, explaining that an old couple had found a child near a crashed ship in a field and that they'd called UNIT about it, who had immediately asked her to take care of it. The child was alien, a small ginger boy who'd mumbled that his name was Vislor Turlough but had said nothing more. He was a scrawny little thing, all bones and sharp angles and after a brief examination the Doctor was able to determine the race. He was a Trion, most likely a refugee sent to Earth to avoid all the conflict, which would imply that he was rather important. Jo had informed him that neither parent was found in the wreckage and that Turlough was an orphan and that, while she'd love to keep him, she thought it'd be better for him to go back home. The Doctor had agreed and with a bit of coaxing had managed to convince the child to go into the TARDIS with him. A brief trip to Trion later however had the him realise that that planet was not safe for any child, let alone a four year old. So he'd began looking for foster families for young Turlough and eventually, the Doctor had found one that seemed suitable. When he'd told the child, the little boy had been silent, though his eyes gave him a look of betrayal and his tiny hand clung to his trouser leg almost pleadingly. That was the moment he realised that, good or not, Turlough would not be staying with the family and neither, as it transpired would the little girl who was already living there.

Tegan Jovanka, as the spiky haired three year old girl had proclaimed loudly in a pronounced Australian accent, was a spunky young thing and she and Turlough had gotten on like a house on fire ever since they'd laid eyes on each other. It seemed like a match made in heaven, if heaven were a place full of arguments. It transpired that, though they were on an alien planet, this child was from Earth and that the foster family he'd been planning on giving Turlough to was actually part of a ring of children dealers who regarded Earth children as something to be collected, almost in the same way a dog owner prizes pedigrees. There was an element of prestige to it all. Naturally, the fair haired Doctor did not see it that way and had promptly disbanded the whole affair, and had returned to the TARDIS with two children. For a few months he travelled onwards, dismantling the entire community of smugglers, making sure they'd never touch another child again. During this time, he got to know his newest acquisition a bit better, she was very well spoken for a three year old and as loud as Turlough was silent, though that description was barely applicable any more and the boy was talking a mile a minute telling Tegan about how the Doctor had saved him and about some of the adventures he'd been on. Tegan, it turned out had no parents that she could remember, she'd been living with her aunt Vanessa up until a year ago when they'd come to take her away and had murdered her aunt when she refused to give the girl up. She had nowhere on Earth to go back to and in a way, it seemed almost cruel to separate her and Turlough, so he just resigned himself, he would have two small charges, two was enough. 

Of course it wasn't and a month and a half later he found himself gazing into the bright blue eyes of the tiniest baby he'd ever seen. Her name was Perpugilliam and she was two months old. She could barely focus her eyes and had been found in, what could only be loosely described as a hut, covered by a thin blanket on a cold floor, with a name tag pinned to her. The last piece in the puzzle that was the children traders. He'd felt physically ill when he'd seen her there, dirty and starving, crying her tiny eyes out and he'd found that he couldn't just leave her there, he didn't have it in his hearts to be so cruel. He'd picked her up and cradled her to his chest, rocking her back and forth trying to calm her while Tegan and Turlough gazed at him curiously, wondering what he was going to do. He'd taken her back home to the TARDIS, nursed her, fed her and tried to take her back to her own family, who were nowhere to be found. Tegan nicknamed her Peri and the name stuck. And as he stared at her, watching her tiny hands clench around his finger, he vowed to protect this little one for as long as she would live. Peri was family now. There would be no more children after her. Three was a brilliant number to stop on.

But then nearly seven years later he was involved in the destruction of Traken and somehow the three year old princess, Nyssa, had wound up in his care after Tremas, with his dying breath, had made him promise to look after her. Nyssa was bright, far brighter than the others, though she too was a quiet one. Her long, dark, curly hair made her look like an otherworldly fairy and combined with her bright blue eyes she was practically irresistible. Peri adored her, at the young age of seven years old, she was more than ready to be an older sister and her dark eyes shone when Nyssa took her hand and followed her back to the TARDIS willingly. The Doctor had smiled, he got the feeling that this was going to be alright; Tegan and Peri were both enamoured with the child and though Turlough feigned indifference his brotherly instincts were coming out full force again. The Time Lord could practically see the way the young Trion's eyes rested on her protectively, despite the fact that he was eleven and far too mature to care about things like that.

A year after Nyssa had arrived on board, the Doctor somehow managed to get stuck in E-Space again and returned with a stowaway, Adric, a dark haired two year old who'd snook on board and gotten lost in the corridors. It was Nyssa who found him and she'd yelled for the Doctor to come quickly because there was a little boy on the TARDIS. He'd sighed and reset the coordinates, picking up the toddler so that he could watch the lights on the console, listening to the boy babble away excitedly. Though, once they'd arrived back on Alzarius, no one seemed to know who the baby belonged to and no one was willing to take charge of him and that was how he'd found himself with his fifth and final child. Adric, though he was still so young, was seemingly just as intelligent as Nyssa had been when he'd first met her and any logic puzzle he could get his hands on would be dismantled immediately and solved. Out of all the children he'd had though, Adric was the fussiest, he would only eat certain things and would cry louder than even Peri had at that age, he required constant attention and fuss; the Doctor gave it to him. He watched as his family grew to accept the new arrival. This time it was Nyssa who took a shine to him, liking the fact that she could look after someone for once, rather than being looked after herself and she was often found with Adric sitting on her lap in the library as Nyssa read to him in a clear voice.

That had been a few months ago now, and the Doctor had decided that they needed some stability for a while, so he'd taken them to Earth; ignoring Turlough's complaints about the planet entirely, and they'd all been enrolled in school, though Turlough had to change his after two weeks because of disruptive behaviour. All of them seemed to be settling in just fine now. They'd had their ups and downs, of course, what family didn't? But they were finally starting to take their place in the world and for the life of him, the Doctor couldn't seem to find it in him to regret answering to Jo's call. So, maybe it wasn't entirely her fault after all...


End file.
